Indian history has lot of hidden stories, why look at West for ideas: Arjun Kapoor

Actor Arjun Kapoor on Saturday said Indian history is a reservoir of stories, many of which have not made it to the big screen yet, and such anecdotes can serve as source of inspiration for the younger generations. The actor, who will next be seen in Ashutosh Gowariker's lavishly mounted period drama "Panipat", said instead of looking towards Hollywood for ideas, the filmmakers need to dig deep into Indian history.

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"Today there is an audience to watch the stories about which they have only heard about. Now the entire world will get to see it -- be it 'Tanhaji' or 'Panipat'. It shows the amount of stories that we have hidden in our history. So instead of looking at the West for ideas, we can look at own history and give these stories to our kids to grow up with," Arjun told reporters at the "Panipat" song launch.

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In the film, the actor plays Sadashivrao Bhau, who led the Maratha side against Ahmad Shah Abdali's Afghan army in the infamous battle. Arjun said he completely relied on his director's brief for the role. "Every Maharashtrian is aware of this battle. I considered Ashu sir as an encyclopedia. We all know about the Battle of Panipat but we don't know about it in detail. I can lie and say I have read hundreds of books but I only spent time with one man and that is Ashutosh Gowariker," he said.

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"History of this time is vast and I did not want to get confused. I wanted to do justice to my character. We had the captain (Gowariker), who took care of the story. I tried to focus on what his interpretation of that history was," he added. Since the trailer of "Panipat" dropped, there were comparisons between the looks of Arjun's part and his friend, actor Ranveer Singh's Bajirao from "Bajirao Mastani", a 2015 period drama, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Arjun said though they are actors, he and Ranveer don't talk about work beyond a point. "We are actors and we are friends we do films that do get overlap in terms of genre. Stories are different. We do not discuss work every time. It is not ethical to discuss one film with another (actor) as one director is different from another. I might corrupt my thinking if I ask him what he did and what he learnt. You have to trust your director," he said. Also featuring Sanjay Dutt and Kriti Sanon, "Panipat" is slated to be released on December 6.

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